Selling your property

A few advice and information on the selling/purchase process in France

STEPS TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY

Getting a valuation

Our agency is available to estimate the value of your property in Meribel-Mottaret. In order to ensure a precise estimate, we need to get the following information and documents :

Ownership document (to have the full list and information of the units for sale, possible servitudes etc.)

ID of the owners

Keys to the units that will be sold (cellar incuded)

important elements from the co-ownership : charges, planned works etc.

technical diagnosis (when available) to have more information about the condition of the electricity network, exact size etc.

Those documents help us define more thoroughly the value of your property. To do so, we based our valuation on actual sales, on the current market (offer and demand) as well as the experience that we have as an agency established for more than 30 years in Meribel-Mottaret.

Marketing a property for sale

The mandate

Once the price is established, the owners can choose 2 types of mandate :

The sole-agent (mandat exclusif): the mandate is only given to one agency, which proposes a more complete range of services to sell the apartment. The sole-agent mandate values the apartment as it is not available in any agency.

Moreover, this allows you to have only one contact person.

The simple mandate : the mandate of sale is non-exclusive and thus the property can be sold in several agency. The agency fees are usually more expensive for this type of mandate.

In order to provide the potential buyers with a maximum number of information when starting marketing your apartment, the seller must supply a range of documents to the agency :

Technical dossier

The documents which compose the technical dossier depends on the type of apartment he owns, when the building was built etc. Those documents are provided by a certified surveyor (for around €300). Usually, in Meribel-Mottaret, selling an apartment requires :- Surface notification (certificat "Loi Carrez"): this document informs of the apartment’s surface (only the square meters above 1,8m high are counted).- Asbestos diagnosis (diagnostic amiante): this diagnosis is needed to establish whether there is asbestos in the apartment. The law has changed in 2013, so some recent diagnosis may not be valid anymore.- Energy Consumption Diagnosis (Diagnostic de Performance Energétique or DPE): this document is supposed to rank the apartments in an energy consumption category from A (low energy consumption) to G (high energy consumption). The label is compulsory on the adverts and thus the documents must be established as soon as possible. It is notably based on the coproperty charges and electricity bills.- Electric diagnosis (diagnostic électrique): this diagnosis checks the current state of the electricity network in the apartment. The seller does not need to undertake works : this is purely an informative document.- State of the Natural, Natural, Mining and Technological Risks (Etat des risques naturels, miniers et technologiques or ERNMT): this documents states the risks that may threaten the building (flood, avalanches etc.)

Depending on the property, other diagnosis may have to be carried out by a certified surveyor (gaz diagnosis, lead certificate etc.)

The « LOI ALUR » dossier

Since Loi ALUR was passed in 2014, a new list of documents relative to the co-ownership have to be gathered :- Coproperty rulebook (Règlement de copropriété): this large book details the rules to administer the building. If it has ever been modified, the modification documents must be added too. Those documents can be asked to the syndic of co-ownership if lost.- Coproperty charges over the last 2 years: this allows the buyers to know how much the coproperty charges cost in average.- Minutes of the coproperty meetings : these documents are provided to inform of the latest topics discussed during the general assembly meetings, as well as voted works.- Maintenance notebook (carnet d’entretien): this document sums up all the works that have been carried out along the time and the companies in charge of the maintenance contracts.- Asbestos diagnosis for the common parts: just like for the apartments, this diagnosis informs the buyers on the asbestos state of the building.- Early accounting sum-up (Pré-état-daté): often requested by the notary, this document states the current state of the owner’s accounting towards the co-ownership.- Some other documents may be requested by the notaries

OTHER DOCUMENTS:

- Inventory: when sold with furnitures, an inventory of the apartment’s furniture must be drawn with the estimated price of each items.
- Other documents may be requested.

The sale compromise (compromis de vente)

The sale compromis is an early contract that sums up all the negociation and legal articles to clarify what rules will be applied during the sale. It recalls the commitments of both buyers and sellers.
The buyer must pay a deposit to prove its commitment (up to 10% of the apartment’s value). In case of condition precedent to obtain a mortgage, the buyer commits to actually looking for a mortgage at a rate that is specified on the compromise. He must provide bank documents attesting that he has filled a dossier to obtain a mortgage.

The sale

Once the sale compromise is signed, the notaries are in charge of the administrative part. Once all the documents have been obtained, they take care of the change of ownership towards the State and co-ownership company.

The role of the agency

The role of the agency is to market the property, to visit the apartment with the clients, answer all their questions, gather all the documents, and follow-up the sale with the notaries.
On the spot, the agent can better answer the client’s questions especially in a market where the buyers are buying second-homes and do not necessarily know the area well enough.

Saulire

With Saulire's team, discover the process of a real estate sale, which mandate to choose, the technical file to be constituted, the sales compromise, the role of the real estate agent, the mandatory diagnostics.